I'm Chris and I am addicted to yard sales, garage sales, thrift stores and bargain hunting in general. Visit my site yardsalequeen.com - which I started in 1996.
"Smile" and "VV" (Vintage Value) are the names of two thrift stores I regularly shop at.
I grew up in Clifton Park NY but now live in Lusby, MD. I also lived in other exciting locales such as Schenectady, Watervliet (NY), and Charleston, SC.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

I know I've been a bad blogger lately and I'll try to do better. So this will just be a quick blog post until I have more time to write. Since I last blogged, a few things happened. I had some critters in my yard. Pics to follow. I did a sleep test and was electroded all up from scull to legs. Oh yeah, that makes you sleep well. I even have myself a "Wellness Coach" now. I kid you not. Why? Why do I do anything? Cuz it's free thru our health insurance.

The people at the Nate Berkus tv show got in touch with me. Again. How annoying. Just kidding. I sleep on my Nate Berkus pillow every night. Well actually it is just Nate Berkus pillowcases (bought on clearance when Linen N Things went out of business, but still). Last year they called me of the blue about the possibility of being on one of their first episodes. I never mentioned it until now. Of course the taping was going to happen when we had our big Los Angeles/ Las Vegas / train trip from hell vacation. And they recently got in touch with me about possibly doing something at the Worlds Longest Yardsale weekend which will be the first weekend in August. The taping is of a decorating challenge - really not my thing. If they wanted me to teach someone how to clutter up a room in no time flat, then I'm your person. But to decorate a room so it looks like it didn't come from a yardsale? Eh - don't think I would be good at that. I would be buying more Jesus Playing Baseball artwork. Or if I was lucky, finding another piece of artwork known in the art world as The Kramer. Plus, I have a family thing scheduled for next weekend that can't be changed.

What else. Oh I bought something really cool today for a quarter. I'm going to be eating Virgin Mary toast soon! Again, I am too lazy to take a pic now, but I will show off my toast soon.

here's a pic of my little gardening cart that I purchased the other week for $5 and it will full of tools:

Monday, July 18, 2011

I had a good yardsaling day last Saturday. Bought a bunch of stuff. Including this old caboose lantern ($20), a big thing of peat moss ($1), some expensive backpack (the kind that someone would use for Amazing Race ($10), jug of Hoover rug cleaner (.50). Two packages of solar lanterns (8 lights) for $5, a Step 2 gardening rolling bench full of new hand tools ($5), very long tree trimming saw on poles ($2). The toilet paper came from an actual store, not a yardsale. But don't get me wrong, I HAVE bought toilet paper at a yardsale before, but this package just happened to be in my car when I took the pics.

At the moving sale where I bought the peat moss for $1 - afterward I heard the husband ask the wife - "Why didn't I ever deploy the peat moss?" And wife answered that he did but they had bought two and only needed one. So now I have my own peat moss that I will be deploying to my yard.

And last but not least, Jesus playing baseball for $1. You would think he would at least wear sandals for a little protection. And just think of the dirt. Ewww.

Monday, July 11, 2011

I drove right thru a barn last Saturday on purpose. It was to get to a yardsale. It was sorta like driving on a covered bridge, but there was no bridge. The seller had a "everything for $1 yardsale". I've been to their previous yardsales so I sorta knew what to expect regarding stuff (no antiques or fancy jewelry). But I did see something that looked like a crown so I had to buy it. It's like a big tacky crown shelf. But I realized that I was holding it upside down. So it's like a big tacky upside-down crown shelf. Anyhoo, I'm going to spray paint and hang it up anyway. Because I've been watching Nate Berkus, and I think this is what he means when rooms need architectural detail. Or not.

And at one of my thrifts, I took a chance on something and spent $15 on a motorcycle jacket. I think it will do pretty well on ebay. I also bought a singing McDonald's Filet-o-Fish for $1 - just because.

Here's pics of the tobacco barn (taken with my cellphone). Southern Maryland tobacco barns are on the endangered species list. Apparently, they are important and should be saved so that we can look at them and think about all the tobacco that was dried in there and made into cigarettes for people to smoke and get sick from.

lots of ventilation for the tobacco to dry

They converted one side of the barn to storage units for all their stuff. That's what I need.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

I got the below email from a casting director looking for thrifty families in the Los Angeles area. So if it sounds like something up your alley, feel free to contact them. I don't know what the deadline is, but I assume they want applicants sooner rather than later.

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Is your family the thriftiest in America? Do you refuse to pay full price? Are you always on the lookout for the best deals?

Calling all coupon experts, yard sale fanatics, thrift store wizards, swap meet junkies and super savers for a brand new show on a major network! This show will be the chance to put your skills to the test in a fun competition and prove once and for all that you and your family are the ultimate bargain hunters!

If you live in the Los Angeles area and your family will do anything to save a buck please email your story and a family photo to Ellen Rakieten Entertainment: familycasting@rrstaff.com

Friday, July 08, 2011

but instead of putting me on the cover (as I assumed they would), they put Jada Pinkett Smith. But if you read the article (page 132) at least they used someone who looks like me in the photo on the right hand side of the page (a young, skinny, attractive woman wearing a red off-the-shoulder blouse). And get this, I made a big error. I paid $3.99 plus tax actual CASH for it at Walmart. What the heck was I thinking? I should have gone to Walgreens (and used Register Rewards) or CVS and used my Extracare Bucks to pay for it at least.

I know I never have gotten around (yet) to posting my yardsale buys from NY or last week. So here at least is a photo of the stuff I bought last Saturday.

I am kicking myself over not buying something last week at a yardsale. One seller had about a half dozen brand new basketballs for $1 each. Just one was orange (which I bought) and they others were a weird blue/black combination color. But still they were brand new etc. I should have bought all of them and donated the extras to my son's summer camp, where I'm sure they wouldn't have turned down a donation of new basketballs. So that just reinforces my new mantra "when in doubt, buy it - especially if it's cheap".

Too lazy to talk about all the stuff individually , so just click on it and enlarge to see detail. A lot of the stuff I bought at one sale where I bought a bag full of stuff (nothing priced) and the seller told me it was $5 for all. The dog scrapbook was the most expensive thing ($3) for ebay. The Yahtzee game was new and $2 (will keep). Big remote (.75) will go to my mom who needs a big remote.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

I spotted this "patriotic toilet paper" at one of my thrifts a while back. No, did not buy. Is it just me, or should it be called unpatriotic toilet paper???

=================You would be proud of me. I decluttered a bowl the other day. I was trying to shove my new Dunkin Donuts water bottle in a kitchen cabinet and while doing so, another bottle fell out onto the kitchen counter knocking a bowl to the floor into a million pieces. So congrats to me for uncluttering. AND bonus - the bowl was dirty anyway so no need to wash it.

p.s. Ooopsy, I forgot to mention, while I was in NY, I went to a Dunkin Donuts grand opening and I filled out an entry to win a gift set and I won. Ewww - coffee??? Gave it to my sister.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Also when I was in New York, I stopped at a couple of thrifts that I always visit. Doesn't the Salvation Army look so inviting?

When I saw the entrance, I thought maybe they had gotten word that I was visiting and in preparation had set up a special entryway with a moat, just for me, as yardsale royalty. It was lovely, but I told them they could use the special queen/moat entryway for all. It was in this store that I saw the phallic Christmas Castle a while back.

Yardsalequeen.com

I have a wide variety of interests: going to yard sales, garage sales, thrift stores, estate sales and rummage sales. After I had my son Jacob in 2000, I quit my job at a nuclear power plant after almost 10 years. Now I just sit home, eat bonbons and watch Ellen while I plan my strategy to hit next week's yardsales. Laugh. Dance. Yardsale.